6 vandalise Nehru’s statue in MP, raise slogans against Shivraj Chouhan; caught

Bhopal/Satna: Six young men were arrested on Wednesday evening on charges of vandalising a statue of former prime miner Jawaharlal Nehru in Satna drict, 450km from Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal, police said.The arrests were made after a video emerged of a group of young men, some with their faces covered, vandalising the statue at Satna’s Dhwari Square. In a 47-second video clip, the men also raised slogans against chief miner Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his government.“On Monday morning, a group of people started pelting stones on the statue of former Prime Miner Nehru. They also vandalized it with an iron rod,” said Satna superintendent of police (SP) Ashutosh Gupta said.Police officers identified the six men and tracked them down on Wednesday. Like Satna resident Krishnakant Gautam described the police as the crime accused, the other five also are in their early twenties.After their arrest, the suspects told the police that they wanted to draw the attention of the state government to the rampant abuse of medical drugs and cough syrup.Gupta said the six have been arrested under sections 144 (unlawful assembly armed with a deadly weapon), 148 (rioting), 427 (mischief causing damage) and 153 (promoting enmity between different groups).Earlier, MP Congress leaders demanded strict action against the accused.Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath said, “This incident is very unfortunate and strict action should be taken against the accused.” He also demanded police protection of the statue, he added.